Philosophy

Montessori Philosophy

Maria Montessori, a medical doctor was born in Italy in 1870. She was both a pragmatist and a visionary, in such that she gathered evidence in an objective manner, directly from the children in their natural setting. Montessori had faith that the answers she sought would lead to more meaningful lives for individual children and would also contribute to humanity itself. Her approach to education was need based. She believed that within the formative years of children lay the answers to humanity’s ability to renew itself in each succeesing generation.

A “Prepared Environment”

A Montessori environment is not just about the material in the classroom. It is also about the philosophy behind it. Foremost the environment should be emotionally secure. In planning a secure environment, we take the following ideas into consideration.

The environment should be warm, caring and inviting

The teacher should be consistent, kind, respectful and just

The child should see co-operation between the parents and the educator.

The child’s individual needs should be met.

The child should be made aware of the expectations of the classroom

The child should be made to feel a worthwhile member of the group

There should be equal opportunities for all.

An enviroment designed to meet the child’s need for self construction and to reveal his/her personality and growth to us, so that we may assist him/her in the most appropriate manner Maria Mointessori

The Six Principles of the Montessori Prepared Environment

In order to achieve freedom for the child to follow his natural impulses. Maria Montessori proposed a prepared environment, having;

Freedom: The child has the freedom of movement, exploration, socialization and choice.

Structure and order: Children thrive when their environment makes sense to them and has an order.

Beauty: Maria Montessori interpretation of this is harmony and it is created with the attitude of the children towards each other and towards their director/teacher.Nature and Reality: Montessori encourages the importance of nature and to be a keen observer of it. Most of the curriculum is based on reality. Imagination is explored through the medium of art, drama and music.

Social environment: Co-operation is encouraged; behaviour is modified through redirection and encouragement. Vertical age grouping is preferable to encourage a family like set-up with the younger children looking up to the older ones as role models and the older ones developng empathy and reinforcing their academic skills with their younger classmates. In such a set up each child can achieve his potential at his own pace.

The Academic Environment: The five areas of the academic environment are: Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Mathematics and Culture.